My thoughts about a United Europe
- by Skadi Winter
- Sep 6, 2017
- 4 min read

You might say I am a dreamer, but I’m not the only one…..
Many times the world has been bombed to smithereens and lay in ashes, despite Cassandra’s cries.
But, every time the beasts of war have finished their destruction, it is up to us, the ‘next generation’ to re-build the world, to make it all better…
I was born in Germany, only a few years after the Second World War, the only child of an SS cadet and a mother of French origin from the region of Lorraine. They both are long dead now; may their souls rest in peace, wherever they are. They were children of war and I was their child born into the post war generation; I had to fulfill their dreams of a better world like many of my generation.
What did they expect?
We had no internet, google or social media to form, or rather influence, our thinking. There was, for some, the old black-and-white TV in the corner of a living room where not only the whole family but, sometimes even neighbours, were sitting on hard chairs to get a glimpse of the world outside.
Man putting his foot (and flag!) on the moon (as if there were not enough problems on our earth), Beate Klahrsfeld smacking Kurt Georg Kiesinger for not admitting his participation in Nazi politics, Willy Brandt kneeling and asking forgiveness for Germany’s atrocities committed in Poland during the not so long ago 2ndWW. The assassination of J.F. Kennedy. Martin Luther King. For me, the most impressive TV shot was the brutal murder of Patrice Lumumba and two of his followers. There was no PG-rating, only the most brutal pictures in black and white on the TV screen of a severe beating of obviously already tortured men, bound to a tree with ropes and shot one by one.
Silence in the living room. Where was Congo? In Africa, of course, but so far away from our living room! Who was Patrice Lumumba? Today, we would go and google the whole affair, then, there was just silence. Go on, google it!
How could I have known anything about the political and economic backgrounds of the politics of the world I was growing up in?
Then there was the war in Yugoslavia. In Europe during the 20th century. Still, far away from Germany but, nonetheless, war! In Europe!
Didn’t they have enough of that yet? But, no, this already was the ‘next’ generation, the hope of Europe, those who were meant to build a better world. The candle-chain-hand-in-hand peace lovers, the opponents to nuclear weapons; the knitting parliamentarians of the Bundestag, the Jeans and sneakers wearing boys and girls of my own generation. Equal rights activists, women’s liberation, free education for all! All the heated discussions between fathers and sons about the old war-slogan ‘Jeder Stoss ein Fanzos’, accusations from sons why their fathers had shown only cowardly indifference when Jewish-German ‘Mitbuerger’ had been transported to Auschwitz and Treblinka – hello Europe!
Let me explain. The idea of a united Europe represented for many people after the Ist and IInd World War many different things: The end of nationalism and racism! People of Europe wanted freedom to live in peace, prosperity and justice. They craved for a new order where wars would be impossible. If they wanted to take part in a new world politics, they had to unite regardless of their ethnicity, religion or nationality. The old world order, where head of states only had their own national interests in mind, had to change. We all are infected nowadays by the idea that, in an economically fair world, wars eventually would be unnecessary, aren’t we?
Well, we might have to hurry to fulfil the dream of our parents and grandparents because it seems that we are just at the point to fall into the same trap as they had, when young Adolf promised them a country of white superior people ruling the world. Of course, there is no new Adolf in sight but the forces that brought him to power are lingering in the shadows. To quote Bert Brecht: “The womb he crawled from is still strong!”
Just imagine: no borders! People can move to places where their skills are needed, where they find happiness and prosperity. Of course, premise would have to be that one could continue to cherish their traditions, their national heritage. They still could speak their languages, worship in the churches of their choice, dance their dances, sing their songs and wear their traditional clothes – if they so wished. Their feeling of national identity would be protected. There would be no more taking advantage of cheap labour and labourers because, of course, the aim would be one currency for all members of the European states and equal employment rights for the working people would prevent such exploitation.
I am living in Great Britain now since years and am deeply troubled by BREXIT and the flaming up of right wing nationalism, racism and homophobia as a result.
Of course, many things went very wrong since our parents and grandparents had cherished the idea of a United Europe. Neo-liberal thinking and power-hungry, greedy corporations have spoilt it all. The Union of rich and powerful Euro-crats have replaced the idealists of the post-war socialist, humane thinking advocates of the United-Europe-idea. Altiero Spinelli, Robert Schumann, remember? Instead, the banks, lobbies and a union of corporations have long replaced them.
The European Idea – a dream still having to be fulfilled. Our Europe, the one I have grown up in, has managed to keep peace between arch-enemies and has played a not insignificant role in keeping the world as a whole in peace. It seems to me, that we are one step from moving away from fair standards throughout Europe with regard to political and economical rights. The United Europe of tomorrow might be destined to hold the world’s peace in balance, to tilt the balance one way or the other to give an example of how states can prevent wars, eradicate nationalism and racism.
I, for one, have managed to peacefully unite four daughters in law of four different nationalities, ethnicities and religions in my family. My twelve grandchildren are growing up comfortably speaking four different languages. But, of course, I am not a politician!
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